The signs of skin damage and aging include, but are not limited to, outward visibly and tactilely perceptible changes that include but are not limited to: textural discontinuities such as wrinkles and coarse deep wrinkles, fine lines, crevices, bumps, large pores, unevenness, roughness, sagging, puffiness; blotchiness and sallowness; hyperpigmentation, including discoloration, spots and freckles; keratoses, abnormal differentiation, hyperkeratinization, elastosis, and collagen breakdown; and loss of one or more of elasticity, firmness, tightness, and recoil from deformation. Such signs may be caused or induced by factors that are intrinsic to the aging body, or are extrinsic, such as environmental damage. Skin damage and aging involves one or more layers of epithelial tissue, and is often most evident in the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of skin, though damage and changes may present in any of the layers of the epithelia/epidermis, dermis, underlying tissues and vasculature.
The consumer products and cosmetics industries are focused, at least in part, on providing products to consumers that reduce the signs of skin damage and aging. Such products may be exclusively designed to improve the appearance of skin, though many include one or more other functional benefits, such as cleansing, delivery of color, texture or scent, and exfoliation, to name a few. To date, little scientific data exists to demonstrate whether and how cosmetics and other products influence the quality or health of skin. Indeed, most products do little more than coat and temporarily moisturize or soften the stratum corneum, and these benefits are transient and superficial. In recent years, basic scientific research and applied pharmaceutical research has expanded the understanding of the biochemical processes that underlie tissue damage and tissue aging, including skin. This developing scientific knowledge has influenced both the cosmetics and personal care products industries, and its influence is evident in the contexts of cleansing and other personal care products as well as cosmetics.
In recent years, consumers have been presented with a panoply of products that purport to provide scientifically-based solutions to skin aging by providing actives with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and free-radical-scavenging effects, to name a few. Yet it remains the case with many products that the actual cellular and physiological effects on consumers, when measured against objective standards, are lacking, though the actives may exhibit the claimed properties in the laboratory. Moreover, there is a distinct lack of evidence regarding how and in what doses product actives, whether new or old, impact the quality and health of skin. This lack of clinical understanding inherently limits effective formulation of products and delivery regimens that confer actual improvement to skin tissues and cells.
The present inventors recognized the disconnects between the skin science and the existing knowledge about skin care products.